Nurturing Life

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My life has a limit, but knowledge has no limit. To use the limited to pursue the limitless—perilous indeed! And if, being already like this, one still pursues knowledge, it is merely danger. In doing good, do not draw near fame; in doing evil, do not draw near punishment. Take following the middle course as the constant: one can protect the body, preserve life, nourish one's kin, and live out one's years.

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Cook Ding was butchering an ox for Lord Wenhui. Where his hand touched, where his shoulder leaned, where his foot trod, where his knee pressed, there were sounds—swish and ring—and as he advanced the knife, whoosh—none failed to hit the notes. It matched the dance of Sanglin and hit the cadence of Jingshou.

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Lord Wenhui said, 'Ah! How excellent! How could skill reach such a point?'

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Cook Ding laid down his knife and replied: 'What I love is the Way; it has advanced beyond skill. When I first began butchering oxen, what I saw was nothing but a whole ox. After three years, I never again saw a whole ox. Now I meet it with my spirit and do not look with my eyes; my senses halt and my spirit wishes to proceed. I follow the heavenly pattern, strike the great crevices, guide through the great hollows, and accord with what is inherently so.'

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I have never even touched the places where sinews and tendons meet or where flesh and bone join, let alone the great bones! A good cook changes his knife once a year because he cuts with it; an ordinary cook changes his knife every month because he hacks with it. Now this knife of mine has been used for nineteen years and has carved up several thousand oxen, yet its blade is as if newly ground from the whetstone. The joints have spaces, and the blade has no thickness. Inserting what has no thickness into what has spaces, there is ample room—so broad and easy that the blade must have more than enough space to move.

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That is why, after nineteen years, the blade is still as if newly ground from the whetstone. Nevertheless, whenever I come to a clustered tangle, I see how hard it will be to handle. I become cautious with alarm, my gaze halts, my movements slow. I move the knife very slightly, and with a sudden sound it has already come apart, like earth crumbling to the ground. I lift the knife and stand, look around on account of it, take satisfaction in what I have done, then wipe the knife clean and put it away.

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Lord Wenhui said, “Excellent! Having heard Cook Ding’s words, I have learned how to nourish life.”

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Gongwen Xuan saw the Right Master and said in astonishment, “What sort of person is this? How is he one-footed? Was it Heaven? Or was it man?”

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It was Heaven, not human action. Heaven brought him into life with one leg; the human form has two legs together. From this one can see that it was Heaven's doing, not a person's.

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The marsh pheasant takes a peck every ten steps and a drink every hundred, yet it does not seek to be kept in a cage. Even if its spirit would be vigorous there, it would not be a good thing.

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Lao Dan died. Qin Yi went to mourn him, wailed three times, and came out. The disciples said, ‘Were you not a friend of the Master?’

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He said, ‘Yes.’

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If so, then may one offer condolences in this way?

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He replied, “Yes. I had thought those present understood the way of life and death; seeing their mourning now, I know they did not. When I went in, old people wept for Lao Dan as for their child, and young people as for their mother. The reason they gathered must be that some spoke when they had not meant to speak, and wept when they had not meant to weep. This is to turn from what Heaven allots, go against one's feelings, and forget what one has received. The ancients called it the penalty of fleeing Heaven.

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“His coming was timely; his going followed the course of change. At ease with the time and with what follows, he was not overwhelmed by grief or joy. The ancients called this di zhi xuan jie—a release from the bonds that suspend life.”

Original Chinese text

English translation

One piece of firewood is eventually consumed, yet the fire is passed on; no one knows when it will end.

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